


Land and Sea

by SpellCasterLight



Category: Naruto
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Mild Mentions of Past Trauma, Naruto AU Week 2021, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29332617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpellCasterLight/pseuds/SpellCasterLight
Summary: The forest and the ocean falling in love could only ever result in heartbreak. [Shino x Tenten] Naruto AU Week - Day 2 Prompt: Mythology & Folktales
Relationships: Aburame Shino/Tenten
Kudos: 4
Collections: Naruto AU Week 2021





	Land and Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form. This story is purely for entertainment not profit.
> 
> Author's Notes: Naruto AU Week day 2 entry! I've never written any AU that wasn't a modern school/uni AU before so this was a toughie, but thoroughly enjoyed! =]
> 
> Pairing Warning: It also goes without saying but if [Shino x Tenten] isn't your thing turn back now.
> 
> Warnings: Alternative Universe. Mild Mentions of Past Trauma. Major Character Death.
> 
> Naruto AU Week - Day 2 Prompt: Mythology & Folktales

The creatures of the forest informed him there was something strange happening right at the forest's edge, on the rivers side, so he went to investigate, to make sure whatever it was posed no threat to his forest or any of the creatures he was in charge of protecting.

When he got there, the trees were unmarked, the grass untouched and the rivers water still, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Whatever it was that the insects and animals were confused by must have left.

"Wait; you're not a human," a voice suddenly called out, a voice that sounded like it was echoing slightly, even though the space around them was open.

He jumped slightly when something popped up then, breaking the rivers surface.

"Hello there, and who might you be?" The human like creature asked cheerily.

Her body was humanoid in shape, skin a dazzling light blue colour, but it sparkled silver in the sunlight as she swayed slightly, silver scales encompassed her chest and arms from the elbow down. She also had a large tail that seemed to react to her emotions as it flicked out when she smiled.

Where she had blue, he had green, where she had silver fish scales, he had rich soil brown harden skin. They were so alike, but still, so wildly different.

But in contrast to her blues and silvers her waist length braided hair and giant expressive eyes were the colour of tree bark, a beautiful brown colour.

"I won't harm you," she smiled and actually beckoned him closer with a jolt of her head.

The forest protector's curiosity won out, wanting to know about this strange creature that fit no exact description he had ever heard, and he advanced towards the woman slowly.

"Will you kneel down?" She requested tilting her head to the side, the tip of her tail dancing over the water's surface.

When he knelt she leant her arms on the grass of the river bank, he could now see the silver scales of her lower arms extended all the way down to envelope her hands as well, she also only had three fingers were he had four.

"You are a child of the forest," she whispered in awe, amazed, running her hand gently over the leaf like skin on his cheek. "I have never met one before," her grin then was almost blinding like the sun itself. "You're so green!"

"And you; are a daughter of the ocean," his eyes shifted to her scally silver tail as it gave an enthusiastic flick, covering him in a few drops of water. "I was; under the impression; you could not; leave; the ocean."

"I cannot leave deep water," the mermaid corrected. "This river is fine. All water is connected after all. Where do you think this rivers water will end up?"

He was entranced for a second as the light made the silver in her skin sparkle.

"What has strayed you; so far from your home?"

"There were injured fish from the fishing boat I sabotaged," she looked proud of herself. "I wanted to heal them, but there was so many I had to follow some up this river because they were trying to get as far away from their previous captors as possible."

"You; yourself; are injured."

The forest child gestured with a bark covered finger to the gash in her upper arm bleeding a very diluted liquid that must have been her blood, but unlike red in humans or teal-green in him it was an extremely light blue colour, even lighter than her skin.

The ocean dweller looked at the wound with interest, like she had forgotten she had it at all.

"Fisherman's hook," she stated simply. "I used all my energy healing all the fish I rescued I suppose I don't have enough spare energy right now to heal myself! I'll be fine in a few hours."

Shino didn't like the idea of her simply bleeding that enchanting artic coloured blood for hours; especially when he could so easily rectify the situation.

"Please allow me; to heal you."

Placing one palm on the trunk of the closest tree, he moved his other hand to hover over her arm and took a small amount of life energy from the tree and placed it into her. Her blue blood stopped flowing immediately and her sky blue and silver skin mended.

The mermaid grinned down at her former wound, turning her arm this way and that to see his healing powers handiwork in its entirety.

"Wow thank you!" She leant up further onto the bank of the river, showing off her long torso. "What's your name?"

He almost had to think about it, he couldn't remember the last time he had spoken his name out loud. "Shino."

"Shino," the mermaid repeated, tasting his name on her lips, he had never heard his name sound so, tempting. "I like it," she grinned. "I'm Tenten."

"Tenten?" He repeated, confused. "I; believed; you would be named-"

"What? Something water themed. Like pearl or coral or even just ocean?"

"I; must confess; yes. The forest spirits told me that; all; daughters; of the ocean were named; after its contents; and your hair; and eyes; are earth colours; they told me-"

Confusing him even more she grinned, seemingly amused.

"Maybe your spirit friends don't know everything."

Maybe she was right; from the colour of her eyes and hair, to her name as well, were all things he never knew could exist in a sea child. He was thankful she had found his confusion entertaining rather than insulting.

"Have you never seen a daughter of the ocean before? You're staring at my tail."

He was in fact, watching the scales at the very end of her tail skim the water.

"No; as I said; I believed mermaids could only; stay; in the ocean and I have never seen it."

"You've never seen the ocean?" She sounded so surprised and her mouth formed a small 'o'. "How come?"

"There are no borders; of this forest; that extend that far."

Tenten obviously didn't understand by her frown. "Can't you just-"

"I; cannot; leave this forest;" he informed her truthfully. "Why? My life force comes; from; the forest itself. If I leave; even for a second; I will die."

Her tail lowered fully into the water then, her face looking distraught; she was so very expressive compared to him, compared to any creature he had met. It was oddly refreshing.

As quick as a flash she was smiling and leaning into his space again.

"Come see me tomorrow! I'll bring you a gift! A thank you for healing me!"

* * *

The forest child held the strange object in his hands, turning it over a few times to see the light sparkle off its smooth fuchsia pink surface, he admired the spiral shapes it had with his fingertips.

"What; is it?"

"It's a conch!" Tenten told him grinning as she leaned her head on her folded arms. "If you can't go to the ocean, I brought it to you! Hold it up to your ear."

He did as he was told, and when he did, his eyes went wide, he suddenly heard water, the same sounds that Tenten made when she splashed about in the river, but; stronger; deeper.

"The sound; it's; calming."

"That's what the ocean's waves sounds like," she told him with a serene smile.

"Thank you; for my gift."

"Shino," the mermaid looked hopeful then. "Will you bring me something from the forest tomorrow? I'm so interested in where you live!"

Tenten tilted her head to look around him, as if she could see for the miles the forest behind him stretched. How her eyes shined then, there was no way he could deny her.

"I will."

That night staring at the stars holding his new gift to his ear, the imaginary waves lulled him into a peaceful sleep.

The next day Shino brought her a collection of Golden and Scarlet Waxcaps; something that was found in the darkest parts of the woods and usually not along the edges because of the conditions they liked to thrive in, she was thrilled; as she inspected the yellow and red mushrooms he held in his hands, turning her head this way and that and asking him question after question he found himself filled with an excited energy he had never felt before. He liked the feeling. He wanted it to stay; wanted her to stay.

* * *

They had an unusual friendship. They talked for hours unmoving from their one spot. Him not being able to step foot outside the forest and her not being able to leave the rivers deep water.

He told her all about the earth, and its creatures, and the lives they lived, their habits and life cycles. She told him about distant shores, about the ocean, about stories and songs sung by sailors on their fishing boats.

He did so love to hear her sing.

Mermaids, he had been told by the wood spirits, had a voice that had a grating tone to it, but he didn't think that. Her voice filled his very soul with feelings and emotions he had never truly felt before, and true, it echoed strangely, but he still loved the sound, how it seemed to vibrate through his very being.

"For pray the winds will bring me home! To kiss my love againnnnnn!"

The ocean child finished her latest song with a spin in the water, clapping her hands together under her chin to sigh.

"I love that one!" She proclaimed and with a single powerful stroke of her tail she was across the river back to him.

"What; did the sailor want; when he returned home?" Shino asked making her blink her large expressive eyes in wonderment.

"A kiss," her head tilted far to the right in question. "You've never heard of a kiss before Shino?"

"No," the forest protector told her truthfully. "It is not; something; I have ever heard the forest creatures speak off."

"It's a human thing. It's a sign of affection, of caring for someone important to them."

He had affection for her, he cared for her, she was important to him, could he give her a kiss? Would it mean the same between them as between humans?

"What; is it?"

"Come here," she requested leaning on the bank then with folded arms and a graceful smile, her tail flicked out behind her almost lazily. "I'll show you."

Shino moved as close to her as he safely could, without risk of falling into the river itself.

"Give me your hands."

The mermaid interlinked her three, longer fingers with his four. The greens and browns of his skin blended so well with her blues and silvers.

"Bring your head down to be in front of me."

When he did, she gently pressed her lips to his. Her lips were wet, as he suspected they would be, but she wasn't cold, like he had been told by the forest spirts mermaids were.

The ocean mistress filled him with a gentle heat, like the feeling of just-after-noon-sun filtering through the trees hitting his skin, accompanied with a pleasant filling of lungs, like taking a deep breath when a calming breeze blew by.

Tenten lowered herself then and she smiled at him.

"That; is a kiss Shino."

He liked kisses he decided; he understood why humans wrote songs and crossed oceans for them.

* * *

It was only after months of spending most of every day together did she tell him something that deeply surprised him, that he would never have guessed in a million tree lifetimes.

"You asked me once why my hair and eyes are brown, unlike the mermaids you were told about," Tenten's tail flicked from side to side for a few moments before finally settling when her head rose, an almost scared look in her eyes then, he didn't like the idea of her being scared, especially of him, of something he might say. "It's because I used to be human."

Shino let go of the moth he was healing in surprise.

"What? How?"

"I don't really remember," the mermaid confessed in a far-off voice. "My years as a human are a blur to me. I only remember being upset, humans they, did, _something_ , to me; hurt me somehow," her whole body flinched, as if it remembered her previous pain even if her mind didn't. Her head turned to look in the direction of the ocean itself. "And then I called out to the ocean, begging her to save me, and she did, she took me in as her daughter."

As a forest child he had many reasons to hate humans, they cut down trees, they left their man made creations in the woods out of sheer laziness, they killed the creatures that lived in the forest without a care, they took what wasn't theirs and gave nothing in return.

Humans hurting Tenten, to him, outranked all of them.

"I would; never; hurt you," Shino told her firmly. "Even if I was a; selfish; human. You are too precious; to filled with life; to beautiful; to be treated poorly."

The ocean's daughter looked right at him then, when he saw tears sit at the corner of her eyes Shino froze before she smiled such an in love smile at him his heart stopped for a small moment.

"Come here Shino," Tenten smiled at him, her tail flicking out behind her as she leant on the bank of the river with one arm and reached for him with the other. "I want to kiss you."

He knelt in front of her to give her the kiss she asked for, her scaled hand resting on his cheek as his two rough bark covered hands rested on hers.

Shino might have been the one bound to the earth, but she was the one who grounded him, made him whole; gave him _life_.

* * *

The fire started while he was asleep, and it was the cries of agony from the creatures around him that shocked him awake.

Shino told them to run and fly to safety, away from the flames quickly engulfing their home. Shino ran too, rescuing whatever animals he could, his heart crying for the ones he couldn't.

When he was forced to the very edge of his home, his body littered with burns, his lungs and his skin's stoma pores filled with smoke he saw Tenten leaning as far as she could over the riverbank searching for him, her eyes told him instantly she was beyond relieved to see him alive.

"Tenten."

The forest child collapsed onto his knees in front of her; she quickly threw water from the river on his burning leg, putting out the fire.

"Shino! I saw the smoke from the ocean! You need to leave!"

"I; cannot."

"If you don't leave, you're going to die!"

"If I leave this forest; I will die."

The mermaid dunked in the water and violently flicked her tail upwards to throw water on and behind him when a sudden burst of flame nearly engulfed him completely.

"Come into the water!" She held her arms up begging him to jump into the river to her. "I can heal you! The ocean will heal you!"

As if she gave it permission his burnt and broken body gave out then, falling into the water and her, she held him tight and with a few powerful flicks of her tail they were across the river, away from the fire; away from the remains of his forest.

Tenten sang then and even as he was surrounded by the dazzling blue light that accompanied her healing abilities brought on by her song, he still felt himself grow weaker.

"It's not working!" His friend started to panic then. "Shino it's not working!"

"I can; only; be healed by that forest; Tenten," he reminded her even as she only held him tighter and sang quicker. "It was; never; going to work."

"But-but you were able to heal me! I'll-I'll find you a new forest then!" The mermaid shouted suddenly. "You can live there! I'll swim forever until I get you wherever you need! Just-just stay with me okay?!"

How blessed was he to know someone who loved him so much?

"Tenten; enough," Shino managed to grab her arm to bring her closer to him. "It is; okay."

He was going to die, that much was certain he could already feel his life force being taken back into the earth to feed a future forest child, but at least this way he got to die in the arms of someone who loved him, the only creature that had ever loved him unconditionally.

"It's not okay!" She was crying now; he did so hate to see her cry. "I-I love you Shino; please don't leave me; I _need_ you."

"Thank you," with the last of his strength he pulled her head down and grazed his lips over hers. "For; giving me; life."

The last sound he heard, as his head slumped again her shoulder and his eyes closed in pure exhaustion, was her voice take on its tell-tale angelic echo tone as she cried, a mermaid song of sorrow and mourning she had sang to him before.

It was a lovely sound to die to.


End file.
